Hi everyone,

I got some time to work on the book this morning. Over the past few months, I’ve gone through the entire manuscript and taken out lots of things that the editor had a problem with.

It’s been quite a depressing procedure, snipping away things that I was perfectly happy with a while ago. I did see the sense in it by the end, and I think things are going to be improved greatly.

So, what I have ended up with is a manuscript that feels like Swiss cheese. There are holes all the way through it that I need to fill. More importantly, these holes require me to be creative in a way that I’ve never been.

Everything new I put in will make ripples throughout the rest of the text that I need to amend. The biggest problem of all is finding things that fit the overall narrative while adding the ingredients that were missing from the original.

This morning I spent about three quarters of an hour just staring at the screen. Nothing came. I toyed with a few ideas but each one made no sense when I put it next to the whole story. Then, thankfully, one idea stuck.

I’ve made the character of Paul Armstrong a little older as I was advised to by my editor and, as a result, I’ve come up with a whole new beginning to the story that sets the scene for a genuine sense of tension between him and his father. In the original, the problem I set up made Paul seem weak and a bit whiny. What I’ve done today is going to set him up as a far more intriguing character and provide the ‘lie’ between father and son that I really need to drive their relationship.

It’s great when you solve a problem like this. I put down about 2000 words this morning and it feels really good to be in motion. I’ve got about three more sizable problems to fix (one of which I’m really chewing over) and I’ll keep you updated as things happen.

Thanks for sticking with me on the journey. I promise you a story that’s worth the wait.

Richard